Atento Expects To Price IPO In Range Of $19-$22 Per Share

(RTTNews) - Atento S.A, a provider of business process outsourcing services in Latin America and Spain, said Friday that it expects to price its initial public offering in a range of $19.00 to $22.00 per share.

Atento, owned by private equity firm Bain Capital Partners LLC, said in a regulatory filing that of the total offering of about 14.625 million ordinary shares, it is offering 4.05 million ordinary shares to be sold. The selling shareholder Atalaya PikCo S.C.A is offering an additional 10.58 million shares.

The selling shareholder has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase from the selling shareholder up to an aggregate of 2.19 million additional ordinary shares.

At the top end of the range, the IPO will raise $321.75 million. Atento has applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ATTO".

Assuming the shares are sold at $20.50 per share, the midpoint of the price range, Atento estimates the net proceeds to it from this offering, to be about $30.5 million, or $28.0 million if the underwriters exercise the option to purchase additional shares from the selling shareholder.

Atento estimates net proceeds to the selling shareholder will be about $216.8 million, or $261.8 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares from the selling shareholder in full. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares by the selling shareholder.

Atento intends to use the net proceeds to it from the offering, together with its cash on hand, to repay the entire outstanding amount of $31.4 million due under its vendor loan note issued to an affiliate of Telefonica in connection with the acquisition. The company will use any remaining net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes.

Atento was founded in 1999 as the customer relationship management and business process outsourcing or CRM BPO provider to Spanish telecom operator Telefónica S.A (TDE.L, TEF). Bain Capital acquired Atento from Telefónica in December 2012. Atento has about 153,000 employees.

For the six months ended June 30, 2014, Atento's net loss widened to $24.3 million from $23.1 million in the prior-year period, while revenue edged down 1 percent to $1.15 billion.